Texas man busted for falsely accusing #BlackLivesMatter supporters of vandalizing his truck
Texas man busted for falsely accusing #BlackLivesMatter supporters of vandalizing his truck
Arturo Garcia
18 Sep 2015 at 20:43 ET
Scott Lattin is arrested outside his home in Whitney, Texas on Sept. 18, 2015. [KDFW-TV]
A Texas man who raised almost $6,000 in funds online to repair his truck was arrested on Friday after authorities determined that he vandalized the vehicle himself and tried to blame supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement for the damage, KDFW-TV reported.
Police charged 45-year-old Scott Lattin with making a false report after arresting him at his home in Whitney, Texas. While the suspect denied the accusation during a brief on-camera interview, his arrest warrant stated that he admitted to damaging the truck for “insurance reasons.”
Lattin organized the fundraiser after claiming last week that vandals spray-painted “Black Lives Matter” across his truck as well as “F*ck the police” because he had decorated the vehicle with the phrase “Police Lives Matter” in support of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth, who was shot and killed at a gas station last month. Both authorities and conservatives have attempted to connect Goforth’s death with the movement, seemingly without any evidence.
Whitney Police Chief Chris Bentley told KDFW that when his department took Lattin’s initial statement, there was no damage to the inside of the truck. But footage aired on the station showed that the suspect then claimed that the vehicle’s seats were slashed and its glove compartment ripped open.
<snip>
